The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for debulking body lumens. More particularly, the present invention relates to atherectomy catheters for excising atheroma and other materials from blood vessels and from stents.
Cardiovascular disease frequently arises from the accumulation of atheromatous material on the inner walls of vascular lumens, particularly arterial lumens of the coronary and other vasculature, resulting in a condition known as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis occurs naturally as a result of aging, but may also be aggravated by factors such as diet, hypertension, heredity, vascular injury, and the like. Atheromatous and other vascular deposits restrict blood flow and can cause ischemia which, in acute cases, can result in myocardial infarction. Atheromatous deposits can have widely varying properties, with some deposits being relatively soft and others being fibrous and/or calcified. In the latter case, the deposits are frequently referred to as plaque.
One conventional treatment for cardiovascular disease is the use of stents. Endoluminal stents are commonly used to treat obstructed or weakened body lumens, such as blood vessels and other vascular lumens. Once deployed in the blood vessel, the stent can remain in the body lumen where it will maintain the patency of the lumen and/or support the walls of the lumen which surround it. One factor impeding the success of stent technology in endoluminal treatments is the frequent occurrence of in-stent restenosis, characterized by proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells within and/or adjacent to the implanted stent, causing reclosure or blockage of the body lumen.
Atherosclerosis and restenosis can be treated in a variety of ways, including drugs, bypass surgery, and a variety of catheter-based approaches which rely on intravascular debulking or removal of the atheromatous or other material occluding a blood vessel. Of particular interest to the present invention, a variety of methods for cutting or dislodging material and removing such material from the blood vessel have been proposed, generally being referred to as atherectomy procedures. Atherectomy catheters intended to excise material from the blood vessel lumen generally employ a rotatable and/or axially translatable cutting blade which can be advanced into or past the occlusive material in order to cut and separate such material from the blood vessel lumen. In particular, side-cutting atherectomy catheters generally employ a housing having an aperture on one side, a blade which is rotated or translated by the aperture, and a balloon to urge the aperture against the material to be removed.
Although atherectomy catheters have proven to be very successful in treating many types of atherosclerosis and in-stent restenosis, conventional catheter designs suffer from certain limitations. For example, many side-cutting atherectomy catheters have difficulty in capturing occluding material in the cutting aperture. To facilitate material capture the cutting aperture is frequently elongated to increase the area into which the material can penetrate. While such elongation is effective, it requires an equivalent lengthening of the cutter housing. Since most cutter housings are rigid such lengthening makes it more difficult to introduce the distal end of the catheter through tortuous regions of the vasculature. Moreover, conventional atherectomy catheters typically require a balloon positioned opposite the cutting window to urge the material into the cutting window. Such balloons however, unduly increase the size of the distal portion of the catheter. Even with the balloon, the amount of material that can be removed by conventional atherectomy catheters is limited by the size of the cutting window.
For these reasons, it is desired to provide atherectomy catheters which can access small, tortuous regions of the vasculature and which can remove atheromatous and other occluding materials from within blood vessels and stents in a controlled fashion. In particular, it is desired to provide atherectomy catheters which can facilitate capturing and invaginating atheromatous materials. The catheters and methods for use in a variety of body lumens, including but not limited to coronary and other arteries. At least some of these objectives will be met by the catheter and method of the present invention described hereinafter and in the claims.